Innovation Matters: Post-Socialist Transition 30 Years on by UNECE

UNECE podcast Innovation Matters releases its second episode on “Post-Socialist Transition 30 Years on: the Importance of Furthering Broad Innovation to Progress Towards Agenda 2030”.

30 years later, since the fall of the Soviet Union, UNECE countries have varied success in reaching the increasingly market economy, bringing interesting findings of how economic development for sustainable development, and innovation policy, in particular, is dependent upon the foundation and the ongoing transition process. The guest for this episode is Dr. Aleksandr V. Gevorkyan from St. John’s University in New York. Based on his book “Economic transformation, development and society in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union” (2018), Alec traces the economic development process, assessing these countries based on the socialist path they have had, the nature of institutional and structural change affecting the countries in transition before and after the fall of communism. In this podcast, we further discuss how these countries historically evolved in their economic policies and development, the role of central planning and its impact on innovation, the reform efforts and the role of institutions throughout this process.